Nonlinear Control of a Airbreathing Hypersonic Vehicle

Hypersonic flight based on airbreathing propulsion like Scramjet is a challenging research subject in aerospace science, with strong difficulties related to —but not only— control design. The present work establishes a realistic model of such a vehicle, and summarizes difficulties to overcome. Then, a nonlinear control law design is proposed in a suitable choice of coordinates. The control strategy, relying on Lyapunov theory, aims at stabilizing phugoid motion and then backstepping the wished attitude behavior. The results obtained are illustrated by simulation of a realistic model, with a vehicle trajectory varying from Mach 4 at 20 km to Mach 8 at 30 km.